The prevalence of iron deficiency anemia in 1-5 years old children referring to Kerman medical care and health centers in 1998

Iron deficiency anemia(IDA) is one of the most common nutritional problems in the world.children under 5 years old are considerd as the high risk group consisting a high proportion of IDA patients.in this group,due to the specific conditions,the complication of anemia may lead to serious consequences.this study was designed to determine the prevalence of IDA in 1-5 years old children.A total of 320 of the subjects were selected by two-stage sampling method and the levels of Hb,Hct,MCV,MCH,MCHC, serum ferritin,serum iron,TIBC,and percentage of transferrin saturation were determined.results revealed that 22.5% of children had depleted iron stores(as defined by serum ferritin less than 10mg/ml).7.2% had Hb less than 11mg/ml,and 35% of them had percentage of transferrin saturation less than 15%.in this study a significant correlation was observed between iron deficiency(determined by serum ferretin level).percent of transferin saturation and variables such as age,sources of nutritional diet adivve and iron.significant correlation were also seen between anemia based on hemoglobin deficiency and the sources of nutritional advice(p<0.05).